Carpet-sweeper



' (No Model.)

0. K. STINSON. CARPET SWEEPER. No. 475,626. Patented May 24, 1892.

WITNESSES UNITED STATES FFIQEO ATENT BISSELL CARPET SIVEEPER COMPANY, OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN.

CARPET-SWEEPER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 475,626, dated May 24, 1892.

Application filed April 25, 1891. Serial No. 390,477. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES K. STINSON, a citizen of theUuited States, residing at the city of Chelsea, county of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Carpet-Sweepers, of which the following is a' specification.

My invention relates to that class of carpetsweepers in which are provided rotary brushcarrying shafts adapted to automatically adjust themselves to the surface traversed independently of any vertical movement of the sweeper-case; and its object is to improve the prior constructions and provide novel, simple, and economical means for maintaining a brush-shaft within a carpet-sweeper casing, while permitting such shaft to gravitate and place the brush in contact with the floor or carpet, thereby making the brush Sclfadjusting to the surface traversed, and allow the same to rise and fall independently of any vertical movement of the sweeper-case and of any movement of the pivots 0r pintles which maintain the brush-shaft within the case.

The object of this invention I accomplish by means of the mechanism and combination hereinafter described and claimed, and illustrated by the drawings hereto annexed, in which Figure 1 is an end elevation of a carpetsweeper constructed in accordance with my invention, and Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken through the center of the brush-shaft.

In order to enable persons skilled in the art to make and use this invention, I will describe the same in detail, referring to the drawings, in which The numeral 1 indicates a sweeper-case having its end walls provided with vertical slots 2 for the rising and falling motions of a brushshaft 3, having attached friction-wheels 4, revolved by frictional contact with the drivewheels 5. The handle-carrying bail 6 is pivoted to the sweeper-case in any manner suitable for the conditions required. The brushshaft is provided at each end with an enlarged circular recess 7, that constitutes a bearing for a non-rotary pintle S, which is of a diameter considerably less than the diameter of the circular bearing, in such manner that when the pintles are in the bearings the brush-shaft can freely rise and fall to conform itself to the surface traversed independent of any movement of the pintles, which latter, as regards rotary or vertical movements, are stationary or immovable. The diameter of the circular bearing for a pintle is preferably twice the diameter or more of the pintle in order to permit a sufficiently wide range of vertical movement to the brush-shaft.

The sweeper is provided ateach end with a transverse elastic band 9, and the pintles are immovably fixed on the bands for the purpose of detaching the brush by springing the middle portion of one of the elastic bands laterally away from the end of the case to remove a pintle from an enlarged circular bearing in the brush-shaft; but I do not confine myself to the pintles on the spring-bands, as such pintles can be otherwise fixed or immovably held and supported against rotary movement, so that the brush-shaft can freely rise and fall independent of any movement of the pintles and independent of any vertical movement of the sweeper-case.

I can employ my invention in connection with sweeper-casings and drive mechanisms of any known type, and by the simple con trivances shown and described the brush is made self-adjusting in a very economical manner, whereby a desirable sweeper can be manufactured at comparatively small expense.

I do not confine myself to a non-rotary pintle and enlarged circular bearing at each end of the brush-shaft.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In combination with a carpet-sweeper having a non-rotary pintle, a self-adjusting brush-shaft having a rigidly-attached pulley loosely mounted on the pintle and rising and falling with the brush-shaft independent of any movement of such pintle and of any vertical movement of the sweeper-case, substantially as described.

2. Inacarpet-sweeper,thecombination,with a sweeper-case, of a self-adj usting brush-shaft having an enlarged circular bearing, a nonrotary pintle, of a diameter less than the hearing, which permits the brush-shaft to rise and fall independent of any movement of the pin- 5 tie to adjust itself automatically to the surface traversed, and means for operating the brush-shaft, substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two Witnesses.

CHARLES K. STINSON. Witnesses:

ANDREW M. LovIs, GEO. (J. LOVIS. 

